Two months before the opening ceremony of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Italian photographers Edoardo Delille and Gabriele Galimberti traveled to Brazil with the intent to follow the swaying footsteps of Rio de Janeiro's residents, capturing their exuberance, vibrancy and uniqueness.

A great deal of media attention has been focused on the pacification efforts taking place in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro. But photographer Frederik Buyckx didn’t want to focus his camera on that. He wanted to stay away from the conflict and take a closer look at the people who call the favelas home.

In anticipation of the World Cup soccer tournament, which Brazil hosts in June, military police have stormed dozens of slums in Rio de Janeiro to push out drug gangs and “pacify” the neighborhoods. Photographer Sebastiano Tomada recently spent time with the police and those who live in these favelas.

Spanish photographer Nuria Lopez Torres has spent the past decade exploring the cultural differences of the transgender population from country to country. What surprised her most about Brazil was how early some transgender teens start seeking out cosmetic surgery to create a female body.

Photojournalist Lianne Milton recently witnessed the swift demolition of homes in one of Rio de Janeiro's favelas. Largo do Tanque is one of many neighborhoods being torn down to build a highway ahead of the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Photojournalist Ed Kashi spent three weeks in Brazil examining the farming and consumption of sugar and ethanol. He also spent a week traveling to factories in the Netherlands that use sugar as an ingredient. His work is part of a collaborative project, “The Sweet and Sour Story of Sugar."

Italian photographer Francesco Zizola compares the industrialized sugar beet harvest in the Netherlands to sugarcane production in northeastern Brazil, a former Dutch colony and the the world’s largest exporter of sugar. His work is part of a collaborative project, "The Sweet and Sour Story of Sugar."

Magnum photographer David Alan Harvey teamed up with his son to create an interactive book that captures the vibrant energy of Rio de Janeiro. Harvey considers the city the “perfect Shakespeare stage.” And on that stage, he tells a personal story embedded in a journalistic narrative.